Memorial of Saint John Neumann, Bishop
It would not be an exaggeration to say that perhaps the most complicated aspect of our life is relationships. Each of us is a complex being and we enter into numerous levels of relationships with other complex persons. Some of them are more complex than others. Some of these complex persons are related to us by blood, so that it is not that we can just isolate them and live as they do not exist. We are compelled to relate to them. In the process of managing these relationship we become capable of love, sacrifice, patience, forgiveness or anger, resentment, and even hatred. It is in this context that I would like to approach today’s readings.
To understand today’s first reading (1 Jn 3:11-21), we have to begin with the verses just preceding these. John makes a very a foundational statement – that we are children of God. And then he contrasts the children of God with the children of the Devil (3:4-10). John asserts that the one thing that separates the children of God from the children of light is the issue of loving the brother [sister]. John is picking up the theme of love also from the gospel of John 13:34, where Jesus says, “Love one another.” In fact, in all the writing of John failure to love the brother is a failure to do righteousness (or keeping the commandments).
To further explain this point, John looks for a precedent. He picks the precedent from the Old Testament – the story of Cain and Abel. That is the first murder recorded in the Bile. What is intriguing of that murder was that Abel did not do anything wrong against Cain to deserve death. Rather, it was the evil in Cain that caused the sin. In this way, John wants to address the question of Christians hating each other as a problem within the person. Evil dwells in us and we must undergo conversion so that we can become children of God. If we choose to hate, then it is our own work and by it we choose to act contrary to the will of God.
This brings us the gospel reading. Jesus sees Nathaniel and recognizes him as one “without duplicity.” In other words, Nathaniel was a genuine person, within whom evil and hate did not find room. Such a person, John would term a child of the light.
Today we might examine our lives and perhaps identify resentment, unjustified anger or even hate. Our aim should be to ensure that these evils have no room for growth in our life. On the contrary, perhaps we can make conscious choice to replace them with patience, forgiveness, humility, genuineness and sincerity. Once again, today we are being encouraged to deal with a very basic teaching of our faith – love.
“Love is your gift to us, O God. Touch our lives with the flame of your love, so that we might become your children. Amen.”
- Fr. Satish Joseph